Application of air-cooled fuel cells in the field of drones

Hydrogen-powered drones with fuel cells as the power system are a major innovation based on traditional drone technology, and their main application is industrial drones. The differences between hydrogen-powered drones and traditional drones are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

• Power system upgrade: Traditional drones mostly use lithium batteries as power sources, while hydrogen-powered drones use hydrogen fuel cells. This power system has a higher power density, which is 2 to 3 times that of power battery systems of the same weight, and can provide longer flight time and greater load capacity.

• High energy storage efficiency: The hydrogen of the fuel cell is stored in a high-pressure hydrogen cylinder, and the density of hydrogen is much smaller than that of the power battery. The energy storage equipment (hydrogen cylinder) used in fuel cell drones is more efficient than the power battery. For example, a 13.0L hydrogen bottle weighing 5.7Kg is equivalent to 35 TB48S power batteries (weight 23.5Kg).

• Endurance: Hydrogen fuel cells greatly increase the endurance of drones, making them suitable for long-term flight missions.

• Environmental adaptability: Hydrogen fuel cells can operate in a wider temperature range, maintain stable performance from extremely low to extremely high temperatures, and adapt to diverse and extreme environmental conditions.

• Recharge speed: Compared with lithium batteries, hydrogen fuel cells can complete recharge faster, greatly shortening the waiting time for energy replenishment.

• Environmental performance: Hydrogen fuel cells provide zero-pollution, zero-emission energy solutions with little impact on the environment.

• Noise and vibration: Compared with some traditional battery-powered drones, hydrogen-powered drones have less vibration and low noise during operation.

• Applicable scenarios: Hydrogen-powered drones are suitable for scenarios that require long-term and large-scale operations, such as infrastructure inspections, wide-area mapping, emergency search and rescue, public supervision, mining operations, agriculture, animal husbandry, and logistics distribution.

Hydrogen-powered drones have greatly improved the efficiency of emergency response with their outstanding performance in adverse weather conditions and complex terrain. Such drones can be quickly deployed to disaster areas for aerial reconnaissance, effectively assess the impact of disasters, and provide key information for rescue operations. It can also continuously perform multiple tasks such as line inspection, aerial survey, logistics transportation and fire warning during long missions without having to frequently return to replenish energy.

In addition, the improved endurance and enhanced load-bearing capacity of hydrogen-powered drones enable them to carry more or more advanced monitoring and transmission equipment, which is particularly critical for performing complex monitoring tasks and high-quality data collection. These characteristics make hydrogen-powered drones one of the most widely used and significantly improved scenarios for hydrogen fuel cells, and are expected to play a more critical role in future intelligent and automated exploration.

For lightweight applications such as hydrogen-powered drones, air cooling technology is a major breakthrough. Compared with liquid cooling technology, its advantages are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

• Air-cooled fuel cells use air as a coolant, omitting peripheral equipment such as water pumps and radiators, simplifying the structure, and reducing weight and volume, which makes them particularly suitable for lightweight drone applications. At the same time, due to the simple structure, the production and maintenance costs are relatively low, which is suitable for occasions that require frequent maintenance.

• Air-cooled fuel cells show stronger performance when the environment lacks controllability. Although liquid-cooled stacks have advantages in high power output and complex environments, air-cooled stacks can more economically and effectively cope with changes in the external environment in simpler application scenarios.

• Moderate power demand: Air-cooled fuel cells have an absolute advantage in situations with low power demand (such as 10W-5kW). For drones, their power demand is usually within this range, so air-cooled fuel cells can meet their needs well, while maintaining long endurance, while also maintaining low weight and cost.

• Good low temperature resistance: Hydrogen fuel cells have a wide operating temperature range and strong adaptability to high altitudes. This is crucial for the application of drones in high altitudes or low temperature environments. Although liquid cooling systems may require additional antifreeze measures in extreme low temperatures, air cooling systems may be more easily adapted to these environmental conditions due to their simplicity.

Air-cooled stacks have significant advantages in lightweight applications such as drones due to their simple structure, light weight, and low maintenance costs, and air cooling technology provides a more economical and efficient option for drones with moderate power demand, long endurance, and good low temperature resistance.